A variety of wireless mobile devices are now available, including devices which support one or more data-related applications, such as e-mail, calendar, contact management, other personal information management (PIM) applications, and other similar applications. Although there exist a variety of suitable system architectures in which wireless mobile devices may be applied, an architecture which has found favor in enterprise environments involves relatively small wireless mobile devices which implement the aforementioned data-related applications (e.g., e-mail, calendar, contact management, other personal information management (PIM) applications, and other similar applications) in conjunction with enterprise-run “back-end” servers or services which support these applications, and which may be accessed by a variety of client devices. For example, an enterprise may operate one or more servers that provide messaging or e-mail services to a variety of client devices. The enterprise may also operate one or more servers that provide calendar, contact management, or other PIM services to client devices. Sometimes, several of these services are integrated in a “groupware” server.
In general, the enterprise messaging and PIM servers (hereafter, “application servers”) have been designed to support a particular class of conventional client devices consisting of conventional personal computers (whether in notebook or other form), which are connected to the enterprise network either directly, or indirectly via a connection method which is largely transparent to the server. Many wireless mobile devices are not conventional client devices, in that they are not conventional personal computers or are not directly or transparently connected to the enterprise network. In order to provide a high level of service to wireless mobile devices (other than conventional client devices), an enterprise may deploy one or more mobility servers (along with other optional infrastructure elements) which provide intermediation services between the application servers and the wireless mobile devices. The intermediation services may include, for example, management of synchronization of contents between the application server and the wireless mobile device, rapid delivery of e-mail or other content to the wireless mobile device, and adaptation of content to be delivered to the wireless mobile device in a manner consistent with the capabilities of the device and the transport media (e.g., carrier and transport networks) by which the device is connected to the application server.
A concern among information technology personnel responsible for managing an enterprise fleet of wireless mobile devices and the enterprise infrastructure to support them is the orderly administration of a mobility server, and its associated wireless mobile devices, their users, the services and applications provided thereto, and the policies governing their operation.